Shelter
by Fading wind
Summary: Winry is rejected by Ed. But she can't stop thinking about him. [AlWin] [onesided EdWin] [mentions of RoyEd]


This is a REPOST, by the way. This is originally from the collection **Ren'ai Chizu**, but I've decided to post the two one-shots in that collection separately because I'm not going to do the third one anymore. Hope that makes sense. Sorry about this repost.

Title: Shelter  
Genre: Romance/Angst  
Pairing: Al x Winry, one-sided Ed x Winry, with mentions of Roy x Ed  
Summary: Winry is rejected by Ed... But she can't stop thinking about him.  
Warnings: Mentions of shounen-ai, in this case RoyEd. Nothing else.  
Disclaimer: Don't own.

**Shelter**

Her heart was broken. Night by night she sought sleep, which would not come to her. Images of Edward came into her mind every now and then. It was almost impossible to forget him, though she knew he had forgotten her completely.

It was yet another sleepless night. She wondered how many more long, lonely nights she would pass like this before time would wash away her love for Edward. It seemed to her impossible. They said time could change everything, but to her, it did not feel like time could change her deep, undying love for Edward. It was true and everlasting. At least that was what she thought.

She lay on her bed, tossing and turning. The bright moonlight poured in through the windows, and stars twinkled merrily outside, as if mocking her. She grunted, and turned again. Finally she could not stand it anymore. She got up and turned on the lights. Her bedroom was also her workroom. It was a large room, with a big table in a corner where her tools were laid. There were also Edward's old automail limbs, kept in wooden cases as if they were precious treasures. Well, to her, they really were priceless. She took Edward's automail arm out of the case, and ran her fingers along the cold metal, feeling it with her eyes closed. It was beautiful. Automail, to her, was already something of great value, and this automail belonged to her beloved Edward, thus it was the most wonderful thing in the world apart from Edward himself. She sighed as her fingers reached the automail fingers, and she imagined how it would feel like to have these cold automail fingers touch her skin. It was a thing that would never happen, she knew.

She placed the arm carefully back into its case and closed it. She began to play around with her tools, shaping a small piece of metal into Edward's face when he was angry. It looked cute, and it took her a lot of effort not to smile. Edward was no longer hers. He was someone else's. And worse, that 'someone else' was the killer of her parents. It hurt her just to think of Edward giving that man a loving smile; a kind of smile she would never see from him. She blinked back a tear.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Winry went to open it. Standing outside was the bulky form of Alphonse Elric with his soul trapped in an armour. "Oh, I'm so sorry I woke you, Al," Winry said without realizing something wrong with her statement. Alphonse looked at the floor. "You didn't wake me," he said softly. "I was awake all night anyway. It was just that I heard some noises coming from your bedroom and the lights were on, so I came to see what was wrong." Winry realized that she had said something wrong at once. "Oh, I'm sorry, Al, I-I forgot."

"What's the matter, Winry?" Al asked, changing the subject. Winry shook her head. "No, nothing's wrong." Alphonse looked at her. "No, there's definitely something wrong. These few days you always look like that you don't get enough sleep. You haven't been sleeping at all, have you?"

"No, I haven't been sleeping, Al. But it's okay, I'm always like that. You don't know only because you and Edwar- " Winry choked over his name - "you and your brother are always away," she finished the sentence.

"It's about brother, isn't it? It's because of him you can't sleep," Alphonse said, and the sharp intake of breath as Winry heard the mention of his brother's name proved that he was right. "Look, Winry, I miss brother so much too."

Winry swallowed a lump in her throat. "You don't understand!" she cried. "It's not that! I don't only miss him... I-I love him. Al, I love him!"

Al still did not seem to get the correct meaning of that. "I love broth--" He was cut off by Winry's exasperated yell. "No, Al, not that kind of love! The other kind! As in, the love between Edward and..." Her voice trailed off; she could not say that man's name.

Alphonse finally understood. "You... You love brother?" he asked, his voice a little shaky.

"Yes, that's right, Al. I love him," Winry said, and by now there was no stopping the tears streaming down her cheeks.

There was an awkward silence between the two for a long while. Then Al said, "Winry, I've wanted to say something to you for a long time. But I haven't had the courage to. Now doesn't seem the right time to say it either, but there never will be a right time, since your heart will only belong to brother forever." Winry looked at him with eyes blurred by tears. Something in her heart leapt. "What is it, Al?" she asked. Al looked down at his feet and said nothing. Winry waited patiently. Finally, he spoke. "Winry, I..." A long pause. "I love you." Once that sentence was finished, he looked back up and watched for Winry's reaction.

A tear slid down Winry's cheek, but she was smiling. A gentle, sad smile. "Al, I don't love you, and I won't ever love you in a way that is more than just brother and sister. You know that. But still..." The smile turned brighter. "It is nice to know that there is someone out there that loves you." She threw her arms around Al's stomach area, for it was the highest area she could reach without standing on her toes. She didn't flinch once at the freezing temperature of Al's armour, for yes, it was a cold winter's night. From it, she found warmth instead, flowing straight out of Alphonse's soul.

"Thank you, Al," she whispered, releasing Alphonse from her arms. "Thank you so much." She returned to her bed, and drifted off to sleep as Alphonse watched her. She was warm.

She knew this warmth would only be temporary, but it soothed her. It gave her a safe shelter for tonight, where she would rest without any worries. She knew that next morning would bring her back to reality, but for now, at least, she could forget about her sorrows.

**The End**

**A/N:** Again, sorry about the repost. Hope you liked anyway. Please read & review!


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